Jerusalem, 4 September 1995
Mr. Speaker, Mayor of Jerusalem, sons and daughters of Jerusalem:
Jewish legend tells us that at the moment that King David was about to dig the foundations of the Holy Temple, the groundwaters rose and threatened to flood and destroy Jerusalem, the land of Israel and the entire world.
The legend goes that King David then rose and cast into the turbulent waters a shard on which the Ineffable Name of God was written -- and the waters immediately receded. The People of Israel were assured safety in their land and on their soil.
If it were only possible to repeat that feat today, I would write on that shard two words of love to Jerusalem, to the land of Israel. One word -- tolerance. The other -- peace.
Sons and daughters of Jerusalem, I am a Jerusalemite.
I was born in Sharei Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, I was a partner as a soldier and a commander in the bitter battles of the War of Independence. In Jerusalem, I saw my friends and my soldiers lose their lives facing the walls that fell to the Arab Legion.
In Jerusalem, I had the great privilege to be in command during the Jewish people's finest hour when, during the Six-Day War, the Temple Mount was liberated. In Jerusalem today, we are now carrying out the battle for peace.
Yes, I am a Jerusalemite.
Three thousand years of history look down upon us today, here, in the city whose streets were trampled by Greek phalanxes, whose pavements were trodden on by Roman legions whose catapults tried to breach its walls, whose inhabitants were vanquished by the Crusaders, here where Turkish cavalry galloped through the streets and where British officers peered out from their forts.
Three thousand years of history look down upon us today, in the city from whose stones the ancient Jewish nation sprang, from whose clear mountain air three religions absorbed their spiritual essence and their strength. Jerusalem -- to which every believing Jew turns three times a day in the prayer "May our eyes behold Your return to Zion in mercy."
Three thousand years of history look down upon us today, in the city where the Jewish Priestly Blessing mingles with the calls of the Muslin muezzins and bells of the Christian churches; where, in every alley and in every stone house, the admonitions of the Prophets were heard; whose towers saw nations rise, whose towers saw nations fall -- and Jerusalem stands forever.
Three thousand years of history look down upon us today, as do the dreams which cover the hyssop of the Western Wall and the silent graves of the Mount of Olives and Mount Herzl; the hush of the footsteps of the pilgrims and the thunder of the nailed boots of the ruthless conquerors; whose walls resonate with the prayers of the children and the pleas of the praying; where the exultation of victory mingled with the tears of the paratroopers next to the remnants of the temple, liberated from the yoke of strangers.
Three thousand years of dream and prayer today wrap Jerusalem in love and bring close Jews of every generation -- from the fires of the Inquisition to the ovens of Auschwitz, and from all corners of the earth -- from Yemen to Poland.
Three thousand years of Jerusalem are for us, now and forever, a message for tolerance between religions of love between peoples, of understanding between the nations, of the penetrating awareness that there is no State of Israel without Jerusalem, and no peace without Jerusalem united -- the City of Peace. On the day that the Government Offices were moved to Jerusalem, on December 13, 1949, the first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, said, "The State of Israel has, and will have, only one capital, Eternal Jerusalem. So it was 3000 years ago and so it will be, as we believe for eternity."
United Jerusalem is the heart of the Jewish people and the capital of the State of Israel. United Jerusalem is ours. Jerusalem forever!